American Fork police moved to arrest an Orem man Friday afternoon, capping a three-week investigation in one of the saddest cases in recent months, and charged the man with child abuse, a second-degree felony.

According to a police report filed in the Fourth District Court in Provo, 23-year-old Robbie MacDonald was the only person with access to his paramour’s baby at the time of the injury.

On Jan. 18, police officers were dispatched to a home in American Fork, where a 10-month-old baby boy was found unconscious and not breathing. The baby was taken to the hospital where it was discovered he had a brain injury.

Specialists at Primary Children’s Medical Center examined the baby and found severe bleeding on the brain and massive retinal hemorrhages. They say these injuries are most commonly associated with abusive head trauma, also known as shaken baby syndrome.

MacDonald, who gave a written statement that he had found the baby unresponsive a short time after he had put him down for a nap, changed his story. He now says he accidently tripped and dropped the baby on the floor.

But the doctors say the trauma present on the baby is not consistent with a simple drop. The baby is still unresponsive, fed through a tube, and he is believed to be blind.

MacDonald had been previously convicted of child abuse in 2007, court records show. In that accident, MacDonald was left alone with a girlfriend’s one-month-old baby for a short period of time. After denying having anything to do with the injury, MacDonald admitted he had become frustrated with the baby and struck him.

Danny Crivello can be reached at crivello@citizen.af, via text at 801-477-6397 or on Twitter.

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